


of stars and snow and pine

by thespacenico



Series: klancemas 2018 [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, christmas shenanigans, keith is in crisis mode, keith thinks everything lance does is cute, lance is... being suspicious, some broganes teasing, sorry this kind of has an angsty ending pls don't be mad at me, they go to a christmas tree farm!, yet more keith/allura bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 19:51:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17086652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespacenico/pseuds/thespacenico
Summary: klancemas day thirteen: christmas tree





	of stars and snow and pine

**Author's Note:**

> PLS DON'T BE MAD AT ME  
> the title is from some random quote i found on goodreads 
> 
> “...freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin - inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night...”  
> ― John Geddes, A Familiar Rain

Keith is starting to get annoyed that little things like sitting alone in the back of the car with Lance have the ability to send him into a mild degree of panic.

Because it’s getting harder and harder to keep himself from following through on all these annoying—urges, like—reaching a hand out to smooth his hair down when he comes downstairs for breakfast, or to brush a thumb over his cheekbone and look at his freckles, or to entwine their fingers together because Lance’s hand is _right there_ on the seat next to Keith and he could so easily just grab it since Lance is looking out the window every time Keith sneaks a look at him.

It _really_ doesn’t help that Adam and Shiro keep glancing back at them in the rearview mirror with those dumb looks on their faces that make Keith want to pull his hood over his head and melt into the seat.

Pidge is sitting between Hunk and Allura in the next row of Adam’s car, typing away on her handheld (Hunk waves a hand in her face at one point, but she’s completely unresponsive), so Hunk and Allura simply chat over her while Adam and Shiro bicker over the radio. (“It’s Christmas, so we’re listening to Christmas music—Takashi _no_ , Frozen is _not_ a Christmas movie so it doesn’t count!”)

Meanwhile, Keith is sitting in the very back with his knees bumping the seat and his arms folded over his chest while he keeps glancing over at Lance because he’s wearing a beanie today and it’s really cute and Keith is—a mess.

Then Lance has the audacity to turn and smile a literal ray of sunshine in Keith’s direction. “I can’t believe we’re getting a real Christmas tree,” he says excitedly, wiggling his fingers. “From a real Christmas tree farm.”

And because Keith apparently likes to suffer, and he always seems to know just what to say to get Lance going, he shrugs and says: “It’s just a tree.”

Lance gasps loudly. “Just a tree—Adam!” He grabs the back of Hunk's seat and leans over. “Haven’t you taught your adopted child anything about Christmas spirit?”

“What’d he say this time?” Shiro asks, twisting around in his seat.

“He said a Christmas tree is just a tree!”

And then Pidge, who’s been completely focused on her handheld and hasn’t looked up a single time in the past fifteen minutes, gasps almost as loudly as Lance did and whips around. “Keith!”

Keith lets out an indignant huff and tosses his hands in air. “I was just—”

“It’s about the experience!” Adam calls from the driver’s seat, and Shiro laughs a little and Keith rolls his eyes and sinks lower in his seat which isn’t very far because there’s hardly any leg room back here.

“It was a joke,” he mutters.

Lance squawks. “Christmas is not a joke, Keith! This is a serious matter. Picking out the perfect Christmas tree is _essential.”_

“Yeah man,” Hunk agrees over his shoulder. “It’s like the icing on the cake. Because then we get to bring it back and listen to Christmas music and decorate the tree while there are cookies baking in the oven—”

And then Keith is saved from the conversation when the car slows to a stop and Shiro announces their arrival to the Christmas tree farm, or whatever the heck it is that Lance called it. Keith is the last to climb out of the car, while Hunk and Pidge are already wandering off toward a little booth selling hot chocolate just outside the parking lot.

He thinks maybe he looked a little grumpy, because Shiro puts a hand on his shoulder as he’s closing the door. “Are you doing okay?” he asks quietly.

“Fine,” Keith sighs. “Sorry.”

“Just checking,” Shiro smiles, and then squeezes his shoulder again before they join the others walking toward the lot full of trees waiting to be sold.

Lance is leading them, chatting happily. “There’s so many! And the snow makes them look so nice—we’re literally gonna be walking in a winter wonderland. How many of these do you think they sell a day? I wonder if they’ve ever run out.”

Despite how out of the way that Adam’s cabin is, the lot is surprisingly crowded. There are lots of people milling about, sipping on hot chocolate and examining trees and latching them onto the roofs of their cars.

Shiro absentmindedly slips his hand into Adam’s as they all stop at the edge of the parking lot. “Where to first?”

Adam hums. “I think I want to ask someone who works here what type of tree they recommend. As in, which one requires the least amount of effort to take care of.”

“Lazy,” Keith says.

They ignore him. “We just need to find someone who works here then,” Shiro suggests helpfully.

“Okay, well while you guys are doing that,” Lance starts, tossing his arms around both Keith and Allura (how does it catch Keith off guard every time). “We’ll start perusing the selection.”

“Actually, I’d like to go with Adam and Shiro, if that’s okay,” Allura says a little shyly. “My mother always loved learning about the different species of plants on Altea.”

“Of course,” Shiro beams at her. “I can point out some of the different kinds of trees. My mom gardened a lot when I was young, so I know a thing or two about plants.”

Adam leans away from Shiro and lowers his voice. “Should we tell her about the time he accidentally killed all the poppies I gave him?”

Keith stifles a laugh. “It’s Christmas. I think we can let him have this one.”

“That’s the spirit,” Adam grins, and Keith rolls his eyes.

But he doesn’t even realize until the others are walking away that this leaves him alone with—Lance, who’s already slinging an arm over Keith’s shoulders again (how is he _never ready,_ he should be used to this by now) and loudly announcing to no one in particular that they’re going to start looking at trees. “Okay, where should we start?”

“Um,” Keith stares at Lance’s hand hanging over his shoulder. “Anywhere? I guess?”

“To the firs!” Lance declares. “Because that’s the only type of Christmas tree I can think of right now. Let’s go!” Keith snorts, but he lets himself be pulled along as Lance starts for the nearest row of trees.

He still doesn’t quite understand why there are so many people here, especially considering how relatively close to Christmas it is, but apparently this is the Christmas tree version of last minute gift shopping. Lance’s arm disappears from around his shoulders at some point, but they stay close together as they weave through a cluster of people standing between them and the actual lot of trees.

“Alright Keith,” Lance says when they’ve made their way into one of the first rows. “Operation Find the Perfect Christmas Tree has begun.”

Keith eyes some of the trees skeptically. “They all look the same.”

He nearly plows into Lance when he stops in his tracks and gasps at him. “Blasphemy!”

“Wh—” Keith huffs a laugh. “I don’t think you know what blasphemy is.”

Lance points at two of the trees lined up on one side of them. “Look at those ones. Can’t you see the difference?”

Keith glances between the two of them, and then Lance raises his eyebrows expectantly when Keith looks back at him. “Um…” Keith gestures at the first. “That one’s—taller?”

Lance sighs. “At least you tried. Let’s just go to the next row.”

They wind their way through several more rows of trees, Lance inspecting each one so seriously it’s impossible for Keith not to laugh when he starts turning them down like he’s going through Tinder.

“It’s like we’re in a forest,” Lance notes at some point, once they’re pretty much in the middle of the tree farm. “Not as impressive after we’ve been someplace like Olkarion, but still. Didn’t you say you like the forest?”

Keith blinks as Lance stands back to inspect another tree, because he did say that, but that was—a _really_ long time ago and how could Lance possibly remember that. “How do you remember that?” he echoes his brain.

He follows behind as Lance scoffs and moves on. “What do you mean? I have a _great_ memory.” He knocks on his head. “Like a steel trap.”

Keith squints at him. “What about the game show—”

Lance squawks. “That was different! I was under a lot of pressure, okay? My brain just prefers to only hold onto relevant information.”

 _So the fact that I like the forest is relevant information?_ Keith thinks.

 _Oh my god he totally likes you,_ one half of his brain says.

 _He was already into Allura when you said that,_ the other half reminds him.

 _Ahhhh,_ Keith thinks.

Lance is already moving on like he doesn’t realize he just sent Keith into an existential crisis. “Where do you think they get all these from, anyway? They have to get cut down from somewhere, obviously, but—oo, we should see if we can find the biggest one they have. Or—” And then suddenly he smacks a hand on Keith’s chest with a loud gasp and brings them both to a halt. “Oh my god. _Keith.”_

Keith looks down at his hand on his chest. “What?”

 _“Look.”_ Keith follows Lance’s gaze as he points toward the very end of the row, at what’s probably the smallest Christmas tree Keith has ever seen. He watches as Lance bounces over and kneels down in the snow to look at it properly with a huge grin on his face. “This is the cutest tree I have ever seen in my entire _life.”_

“That thing is shorter than Pidge,” Keith says as he comes to a stop beside him.

“We have to get this,” Lance concludes, and maybe it’s because his beanie is kind of lopsided on his head or the way he’s smiling so big or the fact that he’s so genuinely excited about a tiny tree, but all of it is so cute that Keith kind of loses awareness for a split second.

“God, I like you so much,” he mutters.

“What?” Lance says over his shoulder, and Keith’s eyes widen and his cheeks flush so fast he knows it can’t be healthy.

“I said—I mean, uh, I like it,” Keith stammers. “The tree. We could—put it in the library or something.”

To Keith’s relief, he doesn’t think Lance heard what he actually said because his eyes light up. “Yeah! And I bet we can decorate it with any of the leftover ornaments for the big tree we get!” He jumps to his feet and grabs Keith’s arm. “C’mon, let’s go find Adam and Shiro.”

Hunk and Pidge end up finding a really nice pine tree that everyone eventually settles on. Lance somehow manages to convince Adam to let them buy the little fir tree, but only because he agrees (despite Keith’s protests) to ride back to the cabin with it in the backseat, because the big tree has to go on top and the trunk is full of all sorts of things.

Keith’s handheld buzzes in his pocket on the way back. He manages to fish it out of his coat pocket and peer down at the screen without squashing any of the branches poking at his lap.

 

 **Princess:** have you asked him yet?

 

He squints at the back of Allura’s head.

 

 **Keith K:** asked him what?

 **Princess:** why we were talking about you

 **Keith K:** no  
why?

 **Princess:** you need to!!

 **Keith K:** why??

 **Princess:** because i’m definitely not going to tell you

 **Keith K:** ugh  
fine but if i ask him then you have to promise to tell romelle you like her when you go back

 **Princess:** what!   
that hardly seems fair but if that’s what it will take  
deal  
but only if you ask him today

 

Keith sighs loudly and he can see Allura’s shoulders tense like she’s stifling a laugh.

 

 **Keith K:** fine allura  
only because you’re a princess

 **Princess:** <3

 

When they get back to the cabin, Shiro brings down two boxes stuffed with ornaments from a storage room on the third floor. As promised, Pidge puts on some Christmas music and Hunk volunteers to make cookies and it all feels very homey. They set up the tree in the living room, and it doesn’t take long to decorate it (they nearly have an _Elf_ incident when Lance tries to take a running leap onto the tree to put the star on top, but Shiro stops him before he gets very far).

Lance hoists the box of remaining ornaments into his arms when they’re finished. “Hey Adam, can we use the rest of these for our baby tree?”

“Baby tree,” Keith mutters, because how did Lance make that sound cute.

“Go for it,” Adam nods. “But you’re not allowed to put the star on top.”

Lance squeaks. “You’re revoking my tree-topping privileges?”

“Do I really need to explain why?”

“Okay, fair,” Lance sighs, and Shiro laughs from where he’s perched on the couch. “Keith, will you bring the tree?”

“How come I have to bring the tree?” Keith protests.

Lance is already climbing the stairs with the box of ornaments. “It was your idea to put it in the library!”

Keith sighs, but he lifts the tree from where it’s propped against the door and goes to follow Lance, frowning at the branches poking his chin. “Stop it,” he says as he passes Shiro, who just raises his hands in defense even though he’s grinning.

Lance is already looking through the leftover ornaments in the library when Keith catches up. “What color scheme should we go with? I’m thinking something like blue and silver.”

“I don’t really have a preference, I guess,” Keith shrugs, looking around the library for a place to put the tree.

He jumps a little when Lance suddenly appears at his side. “Lets just decorate it first. We can figure out where to put it when we’re done.” Keith sets it up in the middle of the floor as Lance drags the box over and plops down in front of it, already hooking a shiny blue ornament on one of the higher branches. “Do you think Adam was serious about not letting me put a star on top?”

Keith laughs a little as he sits down on the other side of the box. “Honestly, yeah.”

Lance sighs and mutters something about how he wouldn’t have knocked down the tree, and Keith just watches for a moment as he searches for another ornament and comes up with a twisty silver one to hang on the tree.

 _You have to ask him,_ his brain insists.

 _Or you could skip that part and just tell him you like him,_ another part suggests.

 _Yeah right,_ Keith thinks, and then maybe he let the moment stretch on a little too long because suddenly Lance is looking at him with his mouth quirked up into a funny smile.

“Aren’t you gonna help, mullet?”

Keith starts a little. “Sorry, I was just—sorry.”

Lance just huffs a laugh as Keith reaches into the box and grabs the first blue ornament he sees. “You’ve been doing a lot of that lately.”

“Doing what?” Keith focuses on the tree, which is hard when he can feel Lance looking at him.

“I don’t know. Zoning out, I guess.”

Keith chews on his lip as he looks for another ornament, trying to ignore the sudden fluttering in the pit of his stomach. “I don’t mean to.”

 _Maybe you wouldn’t do it so much if you would just ask,_ his brain sighs.

“Is something wrong?” Lance asks as he’s hanging another ornament.

Keith fiddles with the sparkly silver one in his hand. “Actually, uh—can I ask you a question?”

“You just did,” Lance grins, and Keith rolls his eyes as he snickers.

“Okay, another question.”

Lance hums as he selects another ornament. “I suppose I can take one more question.”

Keith clears his throat and takes his time messing with a branch. “So, um—” _Just ask just ask just ask—_ He takes a deep breath. “I was talking to Allura the other day.”

He jumps at the sudden clang on the ground when Lance drops his ornament, but he quickly snatches it up as Keith glances over at him. “Uh—okay? That’s—not really a question.”

Keith watches confusedly as he hangs the ornament and very resolutely starts rummaging through the box again. “Well—one of the first days we were here when Adam made hot chocolate, I saw you guys in the movie room but I didn’t want to interrupt, so—” Lance determinedly messes with the tree, and the branches rustle a bit. Keith chews at his lip some more. “Anyway, she said that I might have come up, at some point? During the conversation.”

Lance seems to tense the slightest bit, but then he shrugs. “I mean, maybe. Once or twice. Why?”

Keith frowns a little. “She said I should ask you.”

“Of course she did,” Lance mutters.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Lance says quickly. “We were just talking about—you know.” Keith blinks at him, and he shrugs again. “Just like—Voltron stuff. That’s all. Reliving old memories, or whatever.”

“Oh,” Keith says, his heart sinking a little.

 _He doesn’t like you,_ part of his brain thinks.

 _He’s lying,_ the other part argues. _Why would Allura keep telling you to ask about it if that’s all it was?_

Lance still won’t really make eye contact. “Yeah. Nothing super important.”

Keith drops his eyes to the new ornament in his hands. “Okay.”

They’re both pretty quiet, after that. They finish decorating the tree quickly, and decide to put it next to one of the bookcases near the ledge. Keith lets Lance put the star on top. Then Lance tells him he’s going to go put the rest of the ornaments away, and Keith just watches as he pulls the box into his hands and leaves.

 

 **Keith K > Princess  
**December 13th, 10:50 PM

 **Keith K:** i asked him

 **Princess:** :)  
.. keith?  
what did he say?

 **Keith K:** he just  
he got all weird about it  
he said you guys were just talking about voltron stuff

 **Princess:** of course he did

 **Keith K:** i don’t know what that means allura

 **Princess:** sorry  
i’m afraid i’ve only made this more complicated  
i should’ve just told you myself

 **Keith K:** no, don’t worry about it  
it’s fine  
i think i’m just gonna go to sleep

 **Princess:** oh, alright  
i’m sorry  
good night keith

 

(Keith thinks about texting Lance. He lies in bed and stares at his handheld and stares at the door as if he can see out into the hallway because Lance’s door is just beyond. He opens their messages and stares at the screen and thinks about asking him to go to the library or maybe even the observatory.

He doesn’t.)

**Author's Note:**

> JUST BE EXCITED FOR THE NEXT ONE IT'S GETTING THERE I PROMISE 
> 
> come say hi on [tumblr](https://www.taxashi.tumblr.com)!  
> 


End file.
